MOTM: Bill Hamid and it's not close. he probably would have stopped NE's goal had Korb not deflected it.
I think that's part of the reason they are hard to watch this year. Last year, that definitely would have been a draw. I'm conditioned to that result, especially with NE all over it at the end. All praise Hamid, he was amazing when it counted.
I just want to get this out there, coz I've seen quite a bit of Revs soccer this year. The Revs are actually a very good team ... their point total doesn't flatter them. They've been hands down the unluckiest team in MLS ... bad calls, deflections, hitting the woodwork ... you name it. Look at the game tonight ... they definitely deserved a point. Heaps made a huge change a couple of weeks ago that makes them stronger today than at any other point this year ... benching AJ Soares ... that guy is terrible. Getting Toja also makes them tougher. They're one of the best teams in MLS out wide with Alston, Nguyen and Rowe. Bengston and Imbongo are brand new to the team and they're a handful. Just saying ... this isn't like playing Chivas.
Yeah, I know Neal had the winning goal, but anyone have a clue as to why Boscovic was subbed out after only about 56 minutes? He assisted on Pontius's goal and was dangerous throughout. He also got stuck in several times.
I credit hamid with the three points. He saved dc. I had to eat my words there over the Neal - boskovic sub and I'm glad I did but, that doesn't change that Bosko was in control and We suffered when he left the field. Glad to get the three points!
Much of this match was hard to watch, but the team came back from 1-0 to get the three points. This team isn't as good as we'd like them to be, but they did the job tonight. Hamid is a very good young keeper. Mr. Neal is not a superstar, but he is a solid player who certainly helped his team tonight. Boskovich was again very dangerous with his free kicks. Pontius brought the goals required for the win. Najar and DeLeon worked hard on both sides of the ball. This team is still a work in progress, but if they can keep winning, they will be fun to watch. It won't be painless, but it could be fun. I will be watching.
Ben said after the match that he was seeing signs of him tiring. He said admittedly his free kicks were awesome, but his work on the defensive end (or lack there of) was starting to turn in the wrong direction. It's not always about going forward my friends. I too thought it was an odd switch, but looking back, he was spot on about it. He also said afterwards that Boskovic is still not fully fit - I don't know what Boskovic' issue is with getting himself fit, but it really does explain why he doesn't get full run outs.
We swept them in three games and none of those games was easy. The only one that should have been was the first one at RFK where DC went napping for the first five minutes of the second half and blew a two goal lead.
Nothing about the way they played suggests to me that NE is an "awful" team. They have an awful road record, to be sure, but they certainly weren't outclassed tonight.
If you look back Boskovic did have a couple of pretty ugly turnovers right before the sub. Not saying that he absolutely had to get subbed ... Pontius and Korb had some pretty ugly turnovers in that period too. Also our 2 strikers were pretty ineffective. Olsen could of gone in a different direction ... but he had to do something to shake things up. We were pissing away possession to the point where we were going to get scored on. And to Neal's credit his first 10 - 15 minutes on the field he turned the tide and held the ball up well in midfield.
Oh, they were definitely the better team tonight, to my eyes. I'm not sure what that says about them as much as it says about United. They just can't pass the friggin' ball well enough. It's epidemic.
2 of his ugliest turnovers came after Hamid threw the ball into Bosko + 3 defenders, instead of properly distributing the ball down field, to be fair.
Awful team? Those last 15 minutes, they threw Bengston, Toja, Feilhaber, Rowe and Nguyen at us. That's some serious firepower for an MLS side. By the way -- to whomever it was that belittled my prediction about Augusto making the 18..... be more open-minded and respectful...even on the internet. Might save you from looking like a jerk.
Re: Boskovic -- I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence that Bosko was subbed after a realy bad turnover. He's always been on a short leash with Benny. I'm guessing Olsen thought he was gassed -- probably planned all along to sub him at 60' if we were leading, but he might have felt the need to move that up a bit. I was not pleased, because I didn't think we'd score with Neal, Pajoy and Sanyos on -- but I was quickly proved wrong. So there. Which is not to say that Bosko wouldn't also have scored it, because I'm pretty sure he would have, but props to Neal for a nicely placed shot.
Najar and Hamid...wow. Congratulations to Boskovic for getting his first MLS assist in the run of play. I honestly couldn't see very well (and in fact it could just be my imagination), but it looked like after he was subbed out, Boskovic sulked over to the far end of the bench like 10 yards away from the rest of the team and sat by himself. It's probably nothing but it seemed a little window into his mind. Or mine. New England is going to be wicked good next year, which saddens me. Sene, Toja, Feilheiber, Nguyen, Bengston, and Alston. If they find a couple of defenders they could be the team to beat in the East next year. I'm calling it now...Jay Heaps, 2013 MLS Coach of the Year.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't Bosko's first run-of-play assist, but someone with a better memory or desire to look it up can further that. There was a series of games where he went four assists in five matches back in June/July, and I think it was in there. As for his one really bad turnover, yeah, it was ugly and in a bad spot, but there were two other problematic factors. First, all his upfield option passing lanes were blocked, and no-one was moving to help him off the ball. Second, the intercept on the pass to Korb came running in from his blind spot AND Korb, who definitely would have seen the guy coming, just sat there watching the guy running into the play, while waiting for the ball to come to him. I didn't get that. That has to do with the team's off-the-ball movement being terrible, still. I'm not buying the whole "not match fit/tired" thing. I swear to god it looks like Bennie just thinks he's getting tired because he's not running around like a chicken with his head cut off. I'm glad Neal scored, but I still don't believe it was the better of the available subs. Also, DEAR GOD that ref can go back to USL matches. The sooner the better. And take the ARs with him.
One way to look at it is that if Bosko would of played the 90 today they probably would of had to hold him back on Thursday with this whole 3 games in 8 days. If Bosko can get on the field for 45 or more minutes in each of these 3 games I'll be happy.
His previous 4 assists were all set pieces + another one off a set piece in US Open Cup. He did have an assist from the run of play in Carolina Cup if that counts for anything. Speaking of milestones ... I think DC just tied or broke the franchise record for the longest home unbeaten streak. For all the crap I give this team, I'm very proud to how they responded after the season opener.